As the UK Prime Minister and other leaders prepare to attend a Commonwealth gathering in Sri Lanka, its government has criticised his pledge to flag up concerns about human rights. It is estimated that tens of thousands of civilians were killed by the regime and Tiger rebels at the end of a brutal civil war.

Sri Lanka’s regime is preparing to host a Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in mid-November. Embarrassingly, however, a disturbing documentary containing evidence of atrocities towards the end of the island’s civil war was broadcast by Channel 4.

In late September, retired senior US military officials were part of a delegation that went to Egypt on a visit organised by Virginia-based think tank the Westminster Institute (WI), returning to Washington DC to hail the Egyptian military's intervention and deny there had been a coup.